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CAVE CRAWL - CLIMAX CAVE TRIP By Woody Vinzant We got up Saturday morning in anticipation of visiting a new cave. We checked on the McGraths, but they were to sore from Waterfall Cave to go do any cave today. Brian was leading the trip. People just kept signing up. We left to go to the cave with a big group. When we arrived, there were more even more cavers waiting there for us. We ended up with 16 in all. There were very experienced and first time cavers on this same trip. Brian sent TV down to rig the drop while he organized the group. Actually, Matt and Andy rigged. I just took pictures. In the bottom of the sink by the solution tube where we were going to drop, we found a little cotton mouth snake. Brian picked him up with a stick. He put the little guy in the rope bag and took it up and turned it loose. It took at least 45 minutes to get everyone down. While waiting, Matt found a 9 pound steel window weight that he was going to "rock" Brians pack with, but Brian never let his pack go long enough to do it. It would've been funny. We hiked across a fair sized room to where the crawling started. We had to have crawled for 40 minutes. The novice cavers were real slow. For us Florida cavers, it was a breeze. We crawl all the time. Warrens Cave is much harder. The small tunnel opened into a room big enough to stand in. We then got a chance to do a fair amount of walking. We'd walk, then have to wait on the slower people. We eventually made it back to the "Razor Room". I think it is the single prettiest room I've ever seen. The huge curtain formation hung above a pristine pool of clear water. I just sat there and took it in as some of the other cavers poked around. This is the room where Bruce Brewer died swimming under a wall earlier this year. We turned the trip here and started back out. The exit was gruelingly slow for those in the back. Those of us in the front would go for a couple of minutes then wait. Then we'd do it all over. Matt took to the cave like he'd been in there a dozen times. He never made a wrong turn. We sat at the end of the crawl out and joked with those who drug themselves out. Almost everyone had a good time. It was good caving with Brian, Debbie, Becky and Jonathan again. There were several other nice cavers we met too. I was the first out of the pit. The second guy out saw a snake. I went over and looked at it. I had never seen a black hog nosed snake before. I yelled to Brian that I caught one. He told me the ones in that area are solid black. Not like the marble patterned gray ones from Florida. We took some photos of it and I turned it loose. Jonathan was happy to see him gone (a self proclaimed "snakeaphobe"). After about a 6 hour trip, we put all the gear away, washed up and hurried back to the campground for the chicken dinner. Poor Neicy still couldn't lift her arms up from caving at Waterfall Cave the day before. 
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